Short Write
Read the biographical notes about Joyce Carol Oates on page 840-41 of your textbook
and the essay “Against Nature” that follows it. Respond specifically to the excerpt
below.
“Nature has no instructions for mankind except that our poor beleaguered humanistdemocratic way of life, our fantasies of the individual’s high worth, our sense that the
weak, no less than the strong, have a right to survive, are absurd.”
From the text above, provide a clear explanation of the writer’s assertion
(paraphrase), then defend or challenge it, noting the complexity of the issue and
acknowledging any possible objections to your own point of view. This “short write”
should be 300 to 400 words, just enough to practice a key concept in argumentation:
acknowledging alternative points of view. Find at least one valid source to support
your perspective and cite it parenthetically within the paper as well as a full citation
at the end. Please include a word count; this can easily be done by viewing “word
Count” in your “Tools” box.